1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a transflective display device including a reflective section and a transmissive section. The present disclosure further relates to an electronic apparatus including the display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the demand for display devices for a mobile apparatus, such as a mobile phone and an electronic paper, has been increasing. Regarding the display devices for a mobile apparatus, reflective display devices have been attracting attention in terms of the visibility under external light and low power consumption (refer to Japanese Patent No. 2771392, for example). There have also been developed display devices that achieve both the visibility under external light and the visibility in a dark place, including transflective display devices combining characteristics of a transmissive display device and a reflective display device. The transflective display devices, for example, include a transmissive display area (a transmissive display section) and a reflective display area (a reflective display section) in one pixel (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2009-93115 (JP-A-2009-93115), for example). The liquid crystal display device disclosed in JP-A-2009-93115 has difference in level at a boundary between the transmissive display area and the reflective display area. The thickness of a liquid crystal layer of the transmissive display area is made approximately twice that of the reflective display area. This configuration makes the phase differences equal to each other between light passing through the liquid crystal layer once in transmission and light passing through the liquid crystal layer twice in reflection.
Display devices for a mobile apparatus are desired to further reduce the power consumption while ensuring the visibility under external light. In transmissive display devices, a backlight consumes more than half of the power. By contrast, transflective display devices have excellent external light visibility under sunlight. The transflective display device disclosed in JP-A-2009-93115 makes the thickness of the liquid crystal layer of the transmissive display area approximately twice the thickness of the liquid crystal layer of the reflective display area. This configuration generates no reflection in a transmissive opening and the boundary between the transmissive display area and the reflective display area, thereby reducing the aperture ratio in the reflective display area. As a result, display performed simply by reflective display renders a screen darker in an environment such as a room, making it necessary to perform transmissive display by turning on the backlight. Thus, the transflective display device fails to fully enjoy the low power consumption in reflective display.
To reduce driving electric power, the transflective display device may drive at low speed at an inversion frequency of lower than 30 Hz (equivalent to a frame rate of 60 fps), for example. However, drive at low speed at an inversion frequency of lower than 30 Hz (equivalent to a frame rate of 60 fps) causes a flicker, thereby providing a user with a sense of discomfort. For this reason, the drive at low speed cannot be employed.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a display device that can reduce the power consumption while reducing a flicker, and an electronic apparatus including the display device.